E 
13 

LB23P4 


BANCROFT    LIBRAKf 


Bancroft  Library 


THE  BANCROFT  LIBRARY. 


- 


ALL  nations,  during  their  slow  march 
along  the  highway  leading  to  civilization, 
from  the  earliest  known  period  of  mankind's 
gradual  emergence  out  of  the  sluggish  con 
ditions  of  savage  and  pastoral  life  into  those 
of  settled  communities,  have  shown  deep 
interest  in  recording  past  events.  The 
pictograph  and  hieroglyphic  still  remain  in 
evidence  thereof.  As  soon  as  communi 
ties  began  to  establish  themselves  in  cities, 

no  matter  how  small — their  primitive 

annals — no  matter  in  how  crude  a  form  they 
were  recorded — were  guarded  with  scrupu 
lous  care,  and  every  effort  was  made  to  in 
sure  their  preservation.  In  these  small  be 
ginnings  the  evolution  of  libraries  had  its 
genesis. 

It  is  known  that  farther  back  than  2000 
B.  C.,  libraries  existed  in  ancient  Chaldea 
and  Egypt,  the  most  famous  of  those  of  the 


- 


land  of  the  Nile  being  the  "  Library  of  Osy- 
mandyas,"  the  existence  of  which  in  the 
palace  temple  near  Thebes,  popular!)  known 
as  the  "  Memnonium  "  is  proven  by  the 
discovery  of  Champollion  of  sculptured  in 
scriptions  in  one  of  the  inner  rooms.  The 
inscriptions  are:  "Theoth,  the  inventor  of 
letters,  President  of  the  Hall  of  Books," 
and  "The  Goddess  Saf,  his  companion, 
Lady  of  Letters."  These  sculptured  records 
are  ascribed  to  the  i4th  century,  B.  C. 

Next  in  order  of  time  follow  the  Assyrian 
and  Babylonian  libraries.  In  the  ruins  of 
Nineveh  and  Babylon,  Layard  and  Botta 
discovered  collections  of  bricks,  tiles  and 
cylinders  of  clay,  inscribed  in  cuneiform 
characters,  and  the  study  of  them  has 
revealed  the  fact  that,  not  only  were  the 
national  records  kept  in  this  manner,  but 
that  to  a  large  class  of  such  tablets  the 


£13 
I' 
* 


V. 


181)5.] 


A  Mine  of  Musty  Manuscripts. 


273 


term  "Public  Library  in  Clay"  is  appli 
cable.  There  is  every  reason  to  believe 
that  this  last  mentioned  collection  was  made 
about  650  B.  C.,  by  command  of  Sardana- 
palus  V.,  for  the  purposes  of  public  instruc 
tion. 

Passing  from  Persia  into  Greece,  and 
only  referring  to  the  unreliable  statement 
made  that  Pisistratus  founded  a  library  at 
Athens,  537-527  B.  C.,  and  opened  it  to 
the  public,  we  find  that,  according  to  Strabo, 
Aristotle  was  the  first  to  form  a  library  in 
that  country.  After  the  philosopher's  death 
his  collection  was  conveyed  to  Scepsis,  in 
Troas,  where  it  fell  into  disorder,  a  portion 
of  it  being  concealed  in  a  cave  in  order  to 
secure  the  works  from  the  unscrupulous 
mode  of  collecting  books  practised  by  the 
kings  of  Pergamus.  This  is  worthy  of 
notice,  as  showing  the  eagerness  with  which 
books  were  sought  for  in  those  early  days, 
and  the  high  appreciation  in  which  they 
were  held 

We  now  come  to  the  noble  library  of 
Alexandria,  the  literary  glory  of  Egypt. 
Founded  by  Ptolemy  Soter  about  300  B.C., 
it  was  constantly  enlarged  by  his  successors 
down  to  the  time  of  its  unintentional 
destruction,  48  B.  C.,  by  the  action  of 
Julius  Caesar,  who,  having  espoused  the 
cause  of  Cleopatra,  found  himself  compelled 
to  burn  the  ships  in  the  harbor  of  Alexan 
dria.  The  methods  sometimes  adopted  to 
obtain  valuable  additions  to  the  Alexandrian 
library,  were  not  more  strictly  honorable 
than  those  employed  by  the  kings  of  Per 
gamus.  It  is  narrated  that  Ptolemy  Euer- 
getes,  during  a  time  of  famine  in  Athens, 
granted  permission  to  the  Athenians  to  buy 
Egyptian  wheat  for  the  relief  of  the  city,  on 
the  condition  that  the  original  writings  of 
.  Kschylus,  Sophocles  and  Euripides  should 
be  sent  to  him,  he  remitting  fifteen  talents, 
about  $14,000,  as  a  guaranty  for  the  safety 
of  the  works  At  Alexandria  they  were 
carefully  copied,  and  the  copies,  not  the 


originals,  were  returned  to  the  Athenians, 
who,  however,  were  allowed  to  keep  the 
money.  This  narrative  is  interesting  in  as 
much  as  it  bears  testimony  to  the  high 
value  attached  to  original  manuscripts. 

Contemporaneous  with  this  first  library  of 
Alexandria,  was  the  growth  of  a  similar 
institution  under  the  vigorous  modes  of  pro 
cedure  of  the  kings  of  Pergamus.  Probably 
founded  by  Attalus  I.,  244  B.  C.,  it  was  so 
enlarged  by  his  successors  as  to  become  a 
rival  of  that  of  the  Ptolemies,  the  loss  of 
which  it  was  destined  to  replace.  For  An 
thony,  after  his  successful  war  in  the  East, 
sent  it  as  a  gift  to  Cleopatra.  The  collec 
tion  was  deposited  in  the  library  called  the 
Serapium  —  from  its  position  in  the  temple 
of  the  Serapis  —  which  was  outrageously 
destroyed  at  the  instigation  of  the  fanatic, 
Theophilus,  archbishop  of  Alexandria,  A.D. 


Few  cities  in  the  world  have  shown 
a  greater  devotion  to  learning  than  Alexan 
dria,  and  again  she  raised  her  head  as  the 
metropolis  of  culture.  Another  magnifi 
cent  library  was  formtJ,  doomed  also  to 
meet  with  destruction  at  the  hands  of 
fanaticism  and  barbaric  iconoclasm.  On 
the  surrender  of  Alexandria  to  the  victorious 
Mahommedans,  Amrou  would  have  be 
stowed  the  library  on  one  Philoponus,  but 
Caliph  Omar's  decision  on  the  matter  was 
that  if  the  contents  of  the  works  agreed  with 
the  Koran  the  volumes  were  useless  and 
need  not  be  preserved;  if  they  disagreed,  the 
writings  were  pernicious  and  ought  to  be 
destroyed.  For  six  months  the  furnaces  of 
the  four  great  baths  of  the  city  were  fed  by 
the  precious  volumes  for  fuel.  After  her 
subjection  to  Mussulman  rule,  the  glory  of 
Alexandria,  as  a  center  of  learning,  de 
parted. 

The  prototypes  of  our  modern  biblio 
philes  and  bibliomaniacs  came  into  exis 
tence  in  the  latter  days  of  the  Roman 
republic.  Theretofore  Rome  had  been  too 


25 


274 


A  Mine  of  Musty  Manuscripts. 


[Mar.. 


occupied  in  conquest  to  give  much  atten 
tion  to  literature.  After  her  victorious 
arms  had  brought  her  in  contact  with  the 
more  civilized  world,  she  imbibed  the  love 
of  literature,  science  and  art.  Then  libra 
ries  became  a  fashion,  and  no  private  house 
of  any  pretension  was  without  its  Biblio- 
theta,  whether  the  owner  were  a  Cicero  or 
an  unlettered  upstart  whose  splendid  book 
shelves  were  never  referred  to  by  him.  So 
great  was  the  mania  that  one  or  more  copy 
ists,  called  Librarii 
(bookmen)  were  con 
stantly  employed  in 
each  house  transcrib 
ing  works.  Biblio 
poles  became  numer 
ous  and  employed 
great  numbers  of 
such  copyists,  who 
were  educated  citi 
zens  of  conquered 
countries,  reduced 
to  the  condition  of 
slavery.  The  vast 
accumulation  of 
learning  stored  up  in 
ancient  Rome  crum 
bled  away  beneath 
the  withering  effect 
of  barbaric  devasta 
tion,  and  we  are  in 
debted  to  the  monas 
tic  orders  for  the 
preservation  of  only  a  fractional  part  of  it. 

With  this  brief  historical  account  of  the 
growth  of  ancient  libraries,  by  way  of  call 
ing  attention  to  the  great  importance 
attached  by  the  ancients  to  the  acquisition 
of  accumulative  knowledge,  we  proceed  to 
describe  the  gradual  growth  of  the  largest 
collection  of  material  ever  made  for  the 
study  of  a  single  historical  field -The 
Bancroft  Library. 

The  work  of  bringing  together  this  great 


A  DITCH   PLACCAAT  UK   ORDEK.* 


collection  has  extended  over  a  period  of 
more  than  thirty-five  years  of  an  industrious 
life.  In  1859  Mr.  Bancroft  began  to  gather 
together  such  books  as  he  had  at  hand  bear 
ing  on  California.  The  result  was  the  fill 
ing  of  a  few  segregated  shelves  in  his  book 
store  with  about  seventy  or  seventy-five 
volumes;  small  matter,  indeed,  but  this 
initiatory  step  was  the  origin  of  his  present 
library,  which  consists  of  60,000  books, 
maps,  manuscripts,  etc.,  relating  to  North 
western  America 
from  Panama  to 
Alaska.  From  that 
time  Mr.  Bancroft 
became  an  enthusi 
astic  collector. 

Hubert  Spencer 
says:  "Very  gen 
erally  when  a  man 
begins  to  accumulate 
books  he  ceases  to 
make  any  use  of 
them."  This  may 
be  true  in  the  case 
of  most  bibliophiles, 
assuredly  so  of  all 
bibliomaniacs,  but 
the  remark"  is  inap 
plicable  to  Mr.  Ban 
croft  as  a  collector. 
He  had  a  purpose  in 
view;  not  the  gratifi 
cation  of  the  morbid 

desire  to  possess  rare  books,  which  infects  the 
mind  of  the  unregenerate  bibliomaniac.  He 
was  hardly  the  man  to  be  satisfied  with  ob 
jectless  effort  of  any  kind;  he  loved  books, 
and  he  saw  here  an  opportunity  to  render  his 
country  an  inestimable  service  in  a  line 
wholly  neglected  by  others.  Although  he 
pursued  with  ardor  the  work  of  collecting, 
he  never  lost  sight  of  his  purpose.  Vague 
and  undefined  as  were  at  first  his  intentions 
of  writing  a  work  tor  publication,  the  con- 


•Thi*  order  wa»  lamed  ••  •  notice  to  the  citisrnx  of  the  Dutch  We*  Indie*  Company  Colony  om  the  island  oi 
Curacao  by  Jerrtniai  vmn  Gotten,  Oirccteur.  on  the  lit  of  January,  1713.  White  anti  hare  fed  upon  this  parchment  and 
irrtroyed  much  of  its  value. 


1895.] 


A  Mine  of  Musty  Manuscripts. 


275 


FROM   AN   OLD  COSMOGRAPHY. 

ception  of  a  Pacific  States  history  was  never 
theless  latent  in  his  brain. 

Mr.  Bancroft  began  to  frequent  second 
hand  bookstores,  to  ransack  the  rubbish  on 
sidewalk  stands,  and  buy  any  old  pamphlet 
or  scrap  of  material  bearing  on  his  subject. 
Then  he  extended  his  field,  and  going  East, 
drew  upon  New  York,  Boston  and  Philadel 
phia  for  contributions  to  his  collection.  In 
1863  he  visited  London  and  Paris,  and 
there  his  eyes  began  to  be  opened  as  to  the 
magnitude  of  his  undertaking.  At  that 
time  he  had  about  1000  volumes.  On  this 
his  first  visit  to  Europe  he  could  do  little 
more  than  glance  over  the  enormous  stocks 
of  second-hand  books  stored  in  the  hun 
dreds  of  establishments  he  there  found;  but 
he  determined  at  a  latter  date  to  search  all 
Europe  for  the  material  he  required.  An 
opportunity  presented  itself  in  1866.  Mean 
time  the  library  had  increased  in  number  of 
volumes  which  now  amounted  to  5,ooo, 
and  then  Mr.  Bancroft  recognized  that  he 
had  only  begun  his  collection. 

On  his  second  visit  to  London,  he  spent 
three  months  in  looking  over  the  ground  and 
organizing  a  thorough  system  of  search, 
appointing  agents,  employing  intelligent 
men,  and  adopting  all  suitable  measures  for 
the  promotion  of  his  enterprise.  Then 
Paris  was  visited,  bookstalls  and  antiquarian 
warehouses  were  carefully  searched,  and 
catalogues  examined.  Madrid  was  his  next 
objective  point,  and  there  he  met  with  dis 
appointment.  As  his  collection  increased, 
so  did  his  original  ideas  on  the  subject  ex 


pand.     He  found  the  history  of  the  Pacific 
States  so  interwoven  with  that  of  Mexico 
that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  draw  a  line 
of  separation,   and   his   first   purpose   was 
developed  into  the  aspiration  to  produce  a 
history  of  all  Northwestern  America.     Nat 
urally  he  expected  to  find  in  Madrid  much 
good  material  relating   to   Mexico,  but  he 
secured     comparatively     little.       In     turn 
all  the    principal    cities    of   Europe   were 
visited,  and  everywhere  Mr.  Bancroft  found 
something   to    his    purpose,    ranging    from 
pamphlets  at  a  franc  a  piece  to  rare  books  or 
manuscripts  at  three,  five  or  eight  hundred 
dollars  each.     On  his  return  to  California 
he  was  the  possessor  of  over  10,000  vol 
umes,  and  thought  that  his  task  was  done. 
At   the    close    of    1868,    however,    he 
received  from  his  agent  in  London,  a  cata 
logue  of  7,000  books  and  manuscripts  on 
Mexico  to  be  sold  at  auction  in  January  fol 
lowing,    in    Leipsic,    a    glance    at    which 
sufficed   to  inform   Mr.  Bancroft  that  new 
ground  had  been  thrown  open  to  him.     He 
did  not  hesitate.     His  agent  was  instructed 
by  telegram   to   attend   the  sale  and  make 
purchases     at    his     discretion.       By    this 
promptitude  to  act  some  3,000  of  the  rarest 
and  most  valuable  works  extant  were  added 
to  the  collection.  It  may  be  interesting  to  the 
reader    to    learn    that    the    volumes    thus 
secured  formed  a  portion  of  the  Bibleoteca 
Imperial  de  Mejico,  which  the  unfortunate 
Maximilian  founded  during  his  brief  rule  in 


INTFRIOR.    I 


FLOOR.  BANCROFT  LIBRARY. 


27(5 


A  Mine  of  Afiisly  Manu st 


[Mar.. 


F 


that  country.  Jose  Marie  Andrade,  a 
Mexican  collector  of  exceptional  literary 
taste  and  judgment,  had  been  accumulating, 
for  forty  years,  rare  books  bearing  on  the 
history  of  Mexico,  and  when  Maximilian 
began  the  formation  of  an  imperial  library, 
he  turned  to  this  enlightened  collector,  and 
enlisted  his  co-operation.  An  arrangement 
was  made  with  Senor  Andrade  by  which, 
in  consideration  of 
a  certain  sum  of 
money  to  be  paid 
for  his  books,  his 
splendid  collection 
should  form  the  ba 
sis  of  the  Imperial 
Library,  and  be 
come  the  property 
of  the  government. 
Unfortunately  for  the 
project,  Maximilian's 
career  was  short.  Im 
mediately  after  the 
emperor's  death  at 
Queretaro,  Andrade, 
who  had  not  been 
paid  for  the  books, 
packed  them  in  200 
cases,  hurried  them 
off  on  mule-back  to 
Vera  Cruz,  and 
thence  shipped  them 
to  Europe. 

In  June  of  the 
same  year  another 
important  addition 
to  the  collection  was 
acquired  at  a  sale  in  London, 
logues  described  this 


COftMOC.ItAI'HIA  IMS  * 


The  cata- 

lot  as  consisting  of 
"  an  extraordinary  collection  of  books  relat 
ing  to  Mexico  and  North  and  South  Amer 
ica,  from  the  first  introduction  of  printing 
in  the  New  World,  A.  D.  1544  to  A.  D. 
1868."  At  the  auction  Mr.  Bancroft's 
agent  secured  a  number  of  works  which 
filled  up  gaps  in  the  collection.  These 

•Rare. 


purchases  raised  the  number  of  volumes  t<> 
16,000. 

The  /ealous  collector  now  decided  to  be 
gin  work  as  an  author,  and  in  1874  he  pub 
lished  the  first  volume  of  his  Nat  ire  Race*. 
His  literary  labors,  however,  did  not  inter 
fere  with  the  continued  accumulation  of 
books.  He  had  ap(x>inted  agents  in  all  the 
principal  cities  of  Europe,  besides  London. 
who  were  instructed 
to  purchase,  when 
opportunity  offered, 
such  material  as  was 
lacking.  These 
agents  attended  all 
notable  sales  which 
presented  possibili 
ties  of  obtaining  ad 
ditional  matter  for 
the  library.  The 
more  important  of 
those  in  Europe 
were  held  in  Lon 
don,  Paris,  Lisbon, 
Leipsic,  Berlin,  Am 
sterdam  and  Brus 
sels.  In  America, 
sales  in  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  Bos 
ton,  Cincinnati  and 
Mexico  kept  furnish 
ing  supplies.  So  far- 
reaching  and  com 
prehensive  was  Mr. 
Bancroft's  system 
that  neither  book 
shop,  store  nor  auc 
tion  sale  escaped  his  notice;  and  thus  for 
years  a  steady  stream  of  material  was  flow 
ing  into  his  literary  reservoir. 

Mention  must  be  made  of  two  more  col 
lections,  at  least,  from  which  very  valuable 
additions  were  procured,  namely,  that  of 
Mr.  E.  G.  Squier,  sold  in  New  York  in 
1876,  and  that  of  Don  Jos£  Fernando 
Ramivez,  sold  in  London  in  1880. 


«/• 


18%.] 


A  Mine  of  Musty  Manuscripts. 


277 


.,  .w —..»-ua. » >^«^  >*tx>-y-jrT*rZ552 


ROYAL  CKDCLA  *' 

Squier,  a  man  of  letters  and  a  well-known 
author,  availed  himself  of  the  opportunity 
which  his  position  as  United  States  Minister 
to  Central  America  afforded  him,  and  made 
a  rich  collection  of  manuscripts,  maps, 
Central  American  newspapers,  and  political 
and  historical  pamphlets.  A  large  part  of 
the  manuscripts  was  obtained  from  archives 
and  depositors  in  Spain,  but  a  considerable 
number  of  those  relating  to  Central  America 
were  procured  by  himself  in  person  while 
resident  in  the  country.  At  the  sale  Mr. 
Bancroft  bought  whatever  the  collection 
contained  that  was  not  in  his  own  library. 

Ramivez  had  been  president  of  Maxi 
milian's  first  ministry.  Highly  educated, 
he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  early  in  life,  and 
rose  to  eminence  as  State  and  federal  judge. 
At  one  time  head  of  the  National  Museum 
of  Mexico,  afterward  minister  of  foreign 
affairs,  an  erudite  scholar,  and  deeply  inter 
ested  in  the  history  of  his  country,  he  was 


in  every  respect,  as  regarded  culture,  judg 
ment,  and  opportunities  offered  by  a  high 
public  position,  capable  of  making  a  most 
valuable  collection.  And  this  he  did.  It 
comprised  rare  books  and  manuscripts  on 
the  Mexican  Indian  languages  and  dialects, 
and  on  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  history  of 
Mexico;  tomes  containing  laws  and  ordi 
nances  relating  to  the  Indies;  unpublished 
manuscripts  relating  to  the  Jesuit  missions; 
old  sermons  preached  in  Mexico,  and  a 
quantity  of  other  matter.  Many  of  these 
literary  treasures  were  obtained  from  con 
vents,  after  the  suppression  of  the  monastic 
orders.  On  the  retirement  of  the  French 
from  Mexico,  Seftor  Ramirez  went  to 
Europe,  and  took  up  his  residence  at  Bonn, 
where  he  died  in  1871. 

It  is  impossible,  in  a  short  magazine 
article  to  furnish  the  reader  with  the  names 
of  even  the  more  prominent  authors  of  the 


****** 


ROYAL  CKIK'LA.*- 


•'Bearing  the  wgnattire  of  laabella  of  Portugal-regent  of  Spain  during  her  hu«band'«  *b«enc«  in  Italy. 
was  crowned  Emperor—  dated  is>9- 

•.•Bearing  the  rignature  of  Charles  v-dnted  i  $41 


where  he 


A  Mint  of  Musty  Manuscripts. 


[Mar 


MAKNIK   OK    IflNUIMi    MISSION   ACCOfNTS.** 


works  and  manuscripts  collected — the  list 
would  be  too  long — suffice  it  to  say  that  the 
library,  which  at  the  present  date  contains 
60,000  units  of  the 
material  described, 
includes  every  thing 
to  be  wished  for, 
from  the  original 
cedulas  of  Charles 
V.;  of  his  queen,  Is 
abella  of  Portugal; 
of  Philip  II.,  bearing 
their  respective  auto 
graphs,  "Yo  el  Key" 
(I  the  King)  and 
"  Yo  el  Reyna"  (I 
the  Queen)  down  to 
a  Mormon  primer  of 
1868.  Chronicles 
and  histories;  voya 
ges  and  explora 
tions;  A/tec  picto- 


KROM   LA*  CASAS   BOOK.*-' 


graphs   and    ancient 

maps;  cosmographies  and  atlases;  quaint 
sermons  and  political  pamphlets;  papal 
bulls  and  letters  of  Columbus  and  the 


conquistadores  Cortcz  and  Alvarado;  news 
papers  and  periodicals;  rare  pictures,  wood 
cuts  and  engravings — little,  indeed,  bearing 
on  the  history  of  this 
part     of    the     New 

JliTlO.  " 

World  in  all  branch 
es,  ethnological,  civ 
il,  political,  ecclesi 
astical  and  social, 
has  Mr.  Bancroft 
failed  to  find  and 
secure. 

It  would  be  sup 
posed  that  the  con 
stant  inflow  to  this 
vast  accumulation 
would  have  satisfied 
any  collector;  and 
so  it  would  any  or 
dinary  bibliophile; 
but  Mr.  Bancroft 
was  working  with  no 
ordinary  object,  and 

his  observant  mind  had,  from  the  first,  per 
ceived  that  before  him  lay  a  hitherto  untrod 
den  field  for  literary  exploration.  Califor- 


•  'i  h<  <«parate  look*  to  form  a  volume  were  bound  In  Krcen  leather  and  then  placet!  between  wood  «Mc»  corrred 
with  thinner  Irathrr. 

'•Showing  the  Mx-age  cruelly  of  Ihe  Spanish  Coti<|iteror. 


«/• 


1895.] 


A  Mine  of  Musty  Manuscripts. 


27!) 


Bancroft    rushed  into  another   undertaking 
entailing  further  great  expenses. 

He  prosecuted  the  work  with  his  custom 
ary  thoroughness.  Competent  men  were 
sent  out  to  obtain  memoirs  from  all  whose 
information  would  be  likely  to  prove  valu 
able.  Many  of  the  reminiscences — and 
there  were  many  of  them— thus  procured 
were  autographic,  but  the  majority  was 
secured  by  means  of  dictation.  The  most 
important  documents  of  this  class  were  the 
contributions  of  General  Vallejo  and  Gover 
nor  Alvarado.  The  value  of  the  papers 
and  documents  supplied  by  General  Vallejo 
are  beyond  estimation.  They  were  carefully 
arranged,  indexed  and  bound,  making  no 
less  than  twenty-seven  thick,  quarto  vol- 


I.AS  CASAS'    U'    KK    O.N    TIIK   KI'IN   OK   TIIK    IMUtv  * 

nia  was  a  new  land,  and  there  were  still 
living  around  him  men  of  the  pastoral  age, 
when  the  only  communication  between  it 
and  the  outside  world  was  carried  on  by 
means  of  the  trading  ships  that,  from  time 
to  time,  visited  the  coast;  men  advanced  in 
years,  whose  memories  went  far  back;  men 
of  high  position  and  influence  in  the  by 
gone  days.  There  were,  too,  aliens  from 
other  lands,  such  as  General  Sutter,  whom 
Mr.  Bancroft  visited,  in  1876,  at  his  resi 
dence  in  Litiz,  Pennsylvania,  obtaining 
from  him  a  much-wished-for  dictation  of 
200  pages  in  length;  and  Michael  White 
and  Widiver,  who  settled  in  Alta  Califor 
nia,  respectively  in  1828  and  1832.  The 
time  could  not  be  far  distant  when  these 
would  be  with  the  departed.  He  would 
obtain  their  reminiscences.  Besides  this 
source,  there  were  the  records  and  libraries 
of  the  Missions  and  municipal  and  county 
archives,  in  keeping  when  California  was 
under  Spanish  domination  and  Mexican 
rule.  These  should  be  searched;  and  Mr. 

•Set  pictorial  title  pa«c.  published  in  Hci«l<  UKTK  i<*4. 


PRIMF.K   lBS8 


Bancroft 


280 


A  Mine  of  Musty  Afanusfri/>/s. 


IH  HI  kT    HOWE    BA.\CMOKT. 


umes.  This  priceless  material  was  pre 
sented  to  Mr.  Bancroft  by  the  General,  who 
had  collected  them  with  the  purpose  of 
writing  a  history  of  California  himself.  Nor 
did  he  therein  cease  to  give  practical  expres 
sion  to  his  admiration  for  Mr.  Bancroft's 
undertaking;  for  two  years  he  worked  en 
thusiastically  for  the  cause,  alternately  dic 
tating  history,  and  searching  the  country  for 
fresh  documentary  and  personal  information. 
The  additions  thus  made  by  him  swelled 
the  original  number  of  his  volumes  to  fifty. 
Second  only  in  importance  to  General  Val- 


lejo's  history,  is  that  contributed  by  Gover 
nor  Alvarado,  which  constitutes  five  large 
volumes  of  manuscript  written  from  dicta 
tion. 

While  this  work  was  being  carried  on 
among  the  old  Californian  families,  other 
men  were  simultaneously  engaged  in  exam 
ining  county  and  municipal  archives,  from 
San  Francisco  to  San  Diego,  and  transcrib 
ing  important  matter.  Moreover,  all  the 
Missions  were  visited,  and  their  records, 
registers  and  account  books,  besides  a  mass 
of  historical  and  statistical  material  written 


/     Vine  of  .\fusty  Manuscript^ 


NOVA    TYI'IS   TH  \NSACTA    NAVK.ATIO.* 

by  the  priests  were  inspected,  and  copies 
taken  of  everything  that  could  contribute  to 
the  production  of  a  complete  history.  It 
was  during  this  period  (in  1874)  that  Mr. 
Bancroft  acquired  the  valuable  collection  of 
Judge  Benjamin  Hayes,  formerly  district 
judge  of  Los  Angeles.  From  the  time  of 
his  arrival,  in  1849,  Judge  Hayes  had  been 
a  diligent  collector  of  documents  relating  to 
the  history  of  Southern  California,  and 
which  he  had  hoped  to  use  himself.  The 
collection  embraces  copies  from  mission  and 
municipal  archives,  a  great  quantity  of  clip 
pings  from  books  and  early  newspapers,  all 
systematically  arranged,  and  manuscript 
notes  and  accounts  of  his  own  travels 


281 

in    various   ,>arts    of    the    southern    coun 
try. 

Such  is  a  brief  sketch  of  the  growth  of 
the    Bancroft    Library.      But    the    outside 
work    done   in   collecting   was   as    nothing 
compared     with     that    performed     inside 
Kvery  single  book,  manuscript,  newspaper 
and  pamphlet  was  separately  read  and  sep 
arately  indexed  as  to  to  its  contents.     A 
selection  of  leading  subject,  about  fifty  in 
number,  was  made,  such   as  architecture, 
art,   bibliology,  biography,  botany,    .duca- 
cation,  ethnology,  and  so  on,  and  a  separ 
ate  note  taken,  after  a  particular  form,  of 
every  statement  or  fact  bearing  upon  each 
subject   and   its  subdivisions,  with  title  of 
book    and    page,  and   its    shelf   number. 
These  notes  were  sorted,  subject  by  subject, 
and  filed  in  alphabetical  order  in  appropri 
ate  receptacles,  so  that  when  information  on 
any   particular  subject   is   required,  be   it 
mining  or  Indian  childrens'  playthings,  all 
that  is  necessary  is  to  go  the  labeled  cases, 
take  out  a   packet  or  a  score  of  packets, 
and  the  searcher  will  have  hundreds  of  ref 
erences  or  a  small  half-dozen,  according  to 
the  importance  of  the  matter  he  wants. 

Let  the  reader  take  into  consideration  the 
magnitude  of  such  a  work.  To  turn  over 
every  leaf,  con  it,  and  take  notes.  A  regi 
ment  of  assistants  was  required;  for  the 
method  was  not  conceived  and  put  in  prac 
tice  until  the  library  had  assumed  large 
proportions.  There  are  hundreds  of  thous 
ands  of  these  notes  which  will  prove  of  in 
estimable  value  in  future  research. 

To  the  utility  and  uniqueness  of  this 
library,  it  is  almost  needless  to  refer.  It  is 
exceptional,  and  has  no  rival  in  the  world, 
nor  has  it  ever  had  a  predecessor  as  regards 
design.  It  stands  alone.  Never  in  the  his 
tory  of  libraries  has  any  collection  ever  been 


•It  is  a  history  of  the  diacwery  of  America  written  by  a  monk  of  the  Convent  of  Suttenstock  of  Lower  Austria, 
under  the  I.aiin  nom  de  plume  /'kti^tnui  ilx>ver  of  toil.) 

This  monk  s  writings  narrate  the  adventures  of  the  first  missionary  aent  to  the  new  world.  l«adre  Buil  or  Buell.  a 
Catalan  Ik-nedii  tiiu  ,  who  was  sent  in  1494  to  preach  to  the  Indiana.  But)  came  in  collision  with  Columbus,  and  on  his 


. 

n  turn  spared  no  mtana  to  injure  htm. 
Thin  work  was  published  in  1621 


282 


[Mar., 


made  similar  to  it.  It  contains  all  the 
material  that  can  ever  be  secured  on  the 
past  history  of  a  particular  region  occupying 
one-twelfth  of  the  earth's  surfac.  Ho  fur 
ther  additions  to  it  can  be  made  except  the 
productions  of  the  writers  of  the  day;  and 
never  again  will  an  opportunity  occur  for  a 
like  enterprise  elsewhere.  There  is  no  new 
continent  to  discover,  and  never  will  an 
other  Columbus  arise.  No  collection  for  a 
single  historical  study  has  been,  or  ever  can 
be,  made  approaching  it  in  dimensions, 
and  the  destruction  of  the  library,  or  even 
the  dispersion  of  its  contents,  would  be 


irremediable,  for  it  could  never  be  repro 
duced.  With  regard  to  its  priceless  value  to 
the  Pacific  States  of  our  own  country,  it 
may  be  remarked  that  their  individual  his 
tories  can  be  written  with  a  comprehensive 
ness  and  fullness  of  detail  that  can  attach 
to  that  of  no  other  State  in  the  Union, 
or  of  no  other  country  in  the  world.  Pos 
terity  will  proclaim  this  fact,  and  will  not 
fail  to  appreciate,  perhaps,  more  highly 
than  is  done  at  the  present  time,  the 
value  of  the  services  rendered  by  Mr.  Ban 
croft  to  American  history  and  general  know 
ledge. 

/.  J.  Pealfitld. 


